By Alex Tellez

As No Straw November ends, you might be wondering, what comes next? If you’ve successfully said “no” to single-use plastic straws this month, use that momentum to eliminate other single-use plastic products from your daily life. The transition can be difficult, but blogs like myplasticfreelife.com make it easier.  The good news is, humans lived plastic-free for thousands of years, so we know it’s possible.

You might also be wondering, are my efforts enough? Can or should we as consumers bear the full burden of plastic pollution? When we think about attempting to decrease the demand for plastic by refusing it, we must then ask, why is there such a high demand to begin with? If scientists have quantified the magnitude of plastic pollution, why is it still so ubiquitous?

Is saying “no” enough?

According to a report from the World Economic Forum, “each year, 8 million [metric tons] of plastics leak into the ocean – which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute. If no action is taken, this is expected to increase to two [garbage trucks] per minute by 2030 and four per minute by 2050.” At this rate, it is unclear whether demand-side solutions to plastic pollution will be enough. While we, the informed consumers, can and should try to hinder demand of single-use plastic, policy solutions and their implementation is needed to rapidly curb virgin plastic production.

Why plastic in the first place?

At its inception, plastic offered many advantages that still hold true today. Before plastics, even the most mundane items such as combs were made from ivory, tortoiseshell, iron, tin, gold, wood, bull horn, and porcelain. In the early 20th century, plastic served as a new cheap, abundant, and sanitary alternative. It was thought of as an environmentally friendly material for it decreased the demand for those limited, depleted, and contentious resources. The new polymers met the rapid development demands for materials during industrialization and especially after WWII.  Additionally, plastic was a more equitable material for it allowed the middle class to afford products that had been traditionally made from expensive materials. For these reasons and many others, plastic production flourished. As long as plastic remains the best and cheapest option for companies and manufacturers (and ultimately consumers), they are unlikely to voluntarily switch to other materials.

What more can be done?

When we consider the advantages of plastic alongside potential solutions to plastic pollution, an outright ban on plastic seems unrealistic. However, efforts to develop a circular economy could be a possible solution to curbing new plastic production and spurring more careful management. A circular economy aims to reuse materials as many times as possible rather than dispose of them after one use in the current “take-make-dispose” economy. As Kelly Martin cited in Part IV of this series, “only 6.5% of the 33.6 million tons of plastic we use in the United States each year is recycled.” While a circular economy would not eliminate the use of plastic, it would incentivize better waste management and recycling and decrease production of new plastic.

Germany has demonstrated the efficacy of a more circular economy. In 1991, the German government implemented packaging legislation that made product manufacturers responsible for the recycling and disposal of their packaging which incentivized manufacturers to take back their packaging and reuse it. The law also made retailers accountable for returning those materials back to the manufactures and instituted incentives and penalties on the consumer level to ensure consumer participation in recycling. According to Eurostat packaging waste operations and waste flow data, in 2014, Germany recycled 50.2 % of plastic packaging waste generated and 71.39% of packaging waste overall.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has a lot of room for improvement. The EPA’s most recent data on municipal solid waste shows that only approximately 14.8% of plastic packaging generated was recycled in 2014.  While the political realities of our current federal government make implementing national solid waste management policy much more difficult, we can encourage improvements in local solid waste management systems in a move towards a more circular economy. We can raise our concerns to elected representatives so the extent of public opinion is realized. We can demand that our local and state representatives develop comprehensive solutions to prevent land-based sources of plastic pollution and to improve recycling systems. And we can support organizations that are trying to advocate for a greater societal awareness of plastic pollution to cultivate a more sustainable ethos in our communities.  With more widespread awareness and concern for the life cycles of our trash, we might see more participation in recycling and more support for improved solid waste management.

There are various policy pathways that could reduce plastic pollution. If we are going to make considerable gains, we must at least take part in collective action to drive policy change. Saying “no” to single-use plastics is a start and we can make our daily choices even more impactful by leveraging social movements like No Straw November as evidence of public opinion to drive policy change.  Let’s continue to #stopsucking while we advocate for an effective plastic pollution policy.